Learning Specialist

Location: Melbourne | Northern Metropolitan

Job type: Full time / From 28/01/2025 - 25/01/2027

Organisation: Schools (Government)

**Salary**: Salary not specified

Occupation: Education and Training

Reference: 1428186

**Location Profile**:
**Purpose**

Western Autistic School's vision is to provide a dedicated school for students with autism.

At Western Autistic School, we envision a nurturing environment for autistic students in grades Prep to Year 3. Through personalized support and collaborative teaching, we empower each child to thrive socially and academically. Our community celebrates diversity and fosters a commitment to building a strong educational foundation for our students that encourages lifelong learning and achievement.

Our school demonstrates commitment to the following values:

- Diversity
- Respect
- Learning as an ongoing process
- Sharing and growth of knowledge
- Collaboration

**School Profile**

The Western Autistic School is a large, vibrant and unique school in the western suburbs of Melbourne. We offer an early years program for 300+ young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Prep to Grades 3.

Our school caters to autistic students, and synthesises an evidence base drawn from student-centred, strengths-based approaches and contemporary research from the fields of autism and inclusive education to develop Individual Learning Programs for each student.

Key features of our program include:

- The individual student is the focus of our teaching
- Each student is provided with an Individual Learning Plan, in collaboration between the student, their family and the teaching team
- An emphasis on building foundational skills in social communication and functional areas, alongside academic skills particularly in the areas of literacy and numeracy
- Small classes of approximately eight students
- with a teaching team of consisting of teachers, education support staff and allied health professionals
- Individualised transition program for children to move on to their local neighbourhood school
- Ongoing outreach supports.

As part of our school's mission, WAS is actively involved in research and training. It has a registered training provider The Autism Teaching Institute (ATI) which provides post graduate qualifications to educators working with autistic students.

Further information about WAS and its branches is available at:
**Selection Criteria**:

- ** SC1** Content of teaching and learning'. Demonstrated ability to inform and influence the work of others involved in the engagement, mental health, wellbeing or learning of children and young people.
- ** SC2** Teaching practice'. Demonstrated ability to input into the development, implementation and evaluation of processes and strategies relating to mental health, wellbeing or learning.
- ** SC3** Assessment and reporting of student learning'. Demonstrated ability to support a student's mental health, wellbeing or learning by developing and maintaining connection with external services.
- ** SC4** Interaction with the school community'. Demonstrated high level interpersonal skills and communication skills. Demonstrated high level of capability to establish and maintain collaborative relationships with students, parents, other employees and the broader school community to focus on student learning, wellbeing and engagement.
- ** SC5** Professional requirements'. Demonstrated ability to influence and negotiate by gaining buy-in and ownership for ideas, gaining agreement to proposals, or involving experts or other third parties to strengthen a case.
- ** SC6** Demonstrate exemplary ability to implement a child-centred approach to teaching autistic students in their early years of primary education. Demonstrated ability to support others to understand the influences of autism on individual learners.

**Role**:
The Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System highlighted that primary schools provide opportunities to identify children with mental health and wellbeing challenges, who can then be referred to treatment, care and support.

The Mental Health in Primary Schools program is being expanded to every government and low-fee non-government primary school in Victoria. Scaling up across the state from 2023, by 2026 every primary school will be able to employ a Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader to implement a whole-school approach to wellbeing.

The Department of Education and Training has been piloting the Mental Health in Primary Schools program in Victorian schools since 2020 in partnership with the Murdoch Children's Research Institute and the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne. Evaluation of this pilot program has shown that 95 per cent of Mental Health and Wellbeing Leaders consider the Mental Health in Primary Schools model has improved their school¿s capacity to support students¿ mental health and wellbeing needs.

Participating schools receive funding to employ a **Mental H